1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle instrument clusters generally and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a novel configurable warning system for a vehicle instrument cluster.
2. Background Art
Vehicle instrument clusters of the type under consideration here are found, for example in automobiles, trucks, watercraft, aircraft, ATVs, and the like. Most, if not all, vehicle instrument clusters include some means of artificial lighting of the elements of the instrument cluster, generally in the form of electrical illumination to provide backlighting of the elements of the instrument cluster. Illumination, of course, is required to permit the operator of a vehicle and others, if necessary, to read in conditions of otherwise low visibility the gages, dials, etc. that are included in the instrument cluster. Such illumination frequently also includes the lighting of warning bands to indicate to the operator of the vehicle that a particular parameter reading, for example, the speedometer, tachometer, or temperature gage reading exceeds a desirable range.
When an indicator, such as a pointer on a gage, enters a warning band area, this conveys to the vehicle operator that there is something wrong with the vehicle and that action should be taken to correct the situation. For example, if the speedometer reading is too high as shown by an indicator needle pointing to a speed in the warning band, that is an indication to the vehicle operator that the speed of the vehicle needs to be reduced. A similar situation exists with a high tachometer reading, for example, and with other vehicle operating parameters. If the engine temperature is too high, there are several possibilities, each one requiring immediate attention.
Such warning bands usually consist of a red area on the graphics applique disposed on the face of the instrument cluster. These warning bands are essentially passive in that they require that the operator of the vehicle notice that the gage pointer indicating the particular parameter has entered the area designated as the warning band. In some cases, an additional telltale, such as the illumination of an icon reinforces the fact that the indicated parameter exceeds the desirable range. As noted above, such an arrangement is essentially passive and also, once the applique graphics have been chosen, there is no practical way to change the length or color of the warning band. The latter may be a special problem with a vehicle operator who has some degree of color blindness, since the vehicle operator""s color blindness may cause the vehicle operator to view the color of the warning band as being the same color as the rest of the indicator gage area.
No known illuminated vehicle instrument clusters permit the selective adjustment of the color or the length of the warning band or to permit the selective addition of enhancements to the warning system to more nearly assure that the operator of a vehicle recognizes that a measured parameter is above desirable operation range. Such would increase the safety of the operation of the vehicle and could prevent continued damaging operation of the vehicle.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a configurable warning system for a vehicle instrument cluster.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a configurable warning system that permits the changing of the color of a warning band.
An additional object of the invention is to provide such a configurable warning system that permits the changing of the length of a warning band.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a configurable warning system that permits choosing whether to have the illumination of a warning flash.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide such a configurable warning system that permits manual configuration of the warning system.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide such a configurable warning system that permits configuration of the warning system by means of audible commands.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide such a configurable warning system that permits selection of further indication of an out-of-range condition by having the color of a pointer or gage area change or flash.
Another object of the invention is to provide such a configurable warning system that permits colors of a warning element to change sequentially as the measured parameter changes.
It is yet an additional object of the invention to provide such a configurable warning system that can be economically implemented in a vehicle instrument cluster.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a configurable warning system that can transitionally increase the illumination of a dimmed or turned off gage when the parameter indicated by that gage enters a warning zone.
Other objects of the present invention, as well as particular features, elements, and advantages thereof, will be elucidated in, or be apparent from, the following description and the accompanying drawing figures.
The present invention achieves the above objects, among others, by providing, in a preferred embodiment, a configurable warning system for a vehicle instrument cluster, comprising: selection means to select desired characteristics of individual gage elements of said vehicle instrument cluster; illumination means to illuminate said individual gage elements in accordance with selections made by said selection means; and control means operatively connected to said selection means and to said illumination means to receive said selections made by said selection means and to furnish instructions to said illumination means.